Shaun Rogers gives Lions assist with trade to Cleveland Browns

AP File PhotoShaun Rogers agreed to postpone his roster bonus to join the Cleveland Browns, but refused to do the same for the Cincinnati Bengals, according to sources.

ALLEN PARK — In his last act before leaving town, Shaun Rogers did the Detroit Lions a tremendous favor.

According to two sources close to the situation, it was Rogers himself who helped nullify a so-so trade with the Cincinnati Bengals and then engineer a much more lucrative deal with the Cleveland Browns.

Rogers' motive was completely self-serving but he helped out the Lions nonetheless. Detroit, which had originally agreed to a deal with the Bengals for a third- and fifth-round draft choice in exchange for Rogers, ended up trading with the Browns for a third-round pick and starting cornerback Leigh Bodden.

Here's how the situation unfolded on Friday:

Early in the day, the Lions were in discussions with the Browns about a possible trade involving Bodden but the Browns were hesitant. Not only did they not want to give up Bodden but preliminary talks with Shaun Rogers' agent, Kennard McGuire, about a possible contract restructuring didn't go well. As a result, that deal fell apart.

The Buffalo Bills, another team that had shown strong interest in Rogers, decided to go in another direction and were trying to work a trade for Jacksonville's Marcus Stroud, which they eventually did.

The Bengals entered the picture later in the day and the two teams worked out a deal for the two draft picks. The trade was agreed to by the 4 p.m. deadline, but there was a delay over the legal language in the deal that took it beyond the deadline. As a result, the Lions were responsible for paying Rogers a $1 million roster bonus that was due on Saturday (because Rogers would still officially be on the Lions roster at the start of the day).

To work around that, the Lions and Bengals agreed to a provision in the trade that said the Bengals would pay the Lions the $1 million. In addition to that, if Rogers subsequently failed his physical, Rogers' rights would revert back to Detroit and the Lions would have to reimburse the Bengals the $1 million. The Lions agreed to those terms.

According to both sources, the league office rejected those terms because there was no language in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that allowed for an accurate accounting of that money for salary cap purposes. That's what led to all the confusion Friday afternoon. Both teams had agreed to the deal - and that's what was being reported - but there was really no deal.

While the Lions and Bengals were pleading their case to the league office to agree to the contract, the Browns - one of Cincinnati's division rivals - got wind of the impending trade.

AP File PhotoShaun Rogers' agent contacted the Cleveland Browns after the league rejected an earlier trade with the Cincinnati Bengals, according to sources.

It's not completely clear who initiated the contact, but Rogers' agent was in touch with the Browns and the long-term contract situation no longer appeared to be a problem. The Lions were then contacted and asked if they were still interested in doing business with the Browns. Leigh Bodden was back on the table and the Lions leaped at it.

But there was still the issue of the $1 million roster bonus and that wasn't going to change. However, Rogers was willing to do something for the Browns, one of the league's up-and-coming young teams, that he wasn't willing to do for the Bengals -- agree to postpone the due date of the roster bonus. That effectively made it a non-issue with the league and opened the door for the trade with Cleveland.

The Bengals were stuck. They didn't want to continue with a trade which might end up costing them $1 million for nothing. Rogers held the hammer because he was the only one who could dictate the terms of the roster bonus payout.

By Rogers pulling his power play, the Lions effectively traded a fifth-round pick for Bodden, a 26-year-old starting cornerback who is entering the prime of his athletic career. He's a three-year starter who had a career-high six interceptions last year and fills one of the biggest needs the Lions had going into the offseason.

There were a lot of reasons why head coach Rod Marinelli was going to be glad to see Rogers leave town - and Rogers just gave him one more.